ARTICLES

PUBLISHED ONLINE: 17 APRIL 2017 | DOI: 10.1038/NNANO.2017.50

Controlling propagation and coupling of waveguide

modes using phase-gradient metasurfaces
Zhaoyi Li1, Myoung-Hwan Kim1,2†, Cheng Wang3†, Zhaohong Han4, Sajan Shrestha1,
Adam Christopher Overvig1, Ming Lu5, Aaron Stein5, Anuradha Murthy Agarwal4,
Marko Lončar3 and Nanfang Yu1*

Research on two-dimensional designer optical structures, or metasurfaces, has mainly focused on controlling the
wavefronts of light propagating in free space. Here, we show that gradient metasurface structures consisting of phased
arrays of plasmonic or dielectric nanoantennas can be used to control guided waves via strong optical scattering at
subwavelength intervals. Based on this design principle, we experimentally demonstrate waveguide mode converters,
polarization rotators and waveguide devices supporting asymmetric optical power transmission. We also demonstrate all-
dielectric on-chip polarization rotators based on phased arrays of Mie resonators with negligible insertion losses. Our
gradient metasurfaces can enable small-footprint, broadband and low-loss photonic integrated devices.

P
hotonic integrated circuits offer an attractive platform for devices based on all-dielectric metasurfaces introduce negligible
optical information processing1–4 and on-chip chemical and insertion losses to photonic integrated circuits.
biological sensing5,6. However, major challenges still exist at
the device level that prevent reliable, large-scale system integration. Using gradient metasurfaces to control guided waves
These challenges include miniaturizing device footprints, increasing A gradient metasurface structure patterned on the top surface of an
device operation bandwidth and robustness, and reducing device optical waveguide (Fig. 1) enables asymmetric coupling of waveguide
insertion losses1–4. Integration of optical waveguides and gradient modes: when an incident waveguide mode propagates against keff , the
metasurface structures may help address some of these challenges. bending angle of its wavevector increases, which corresponds to
The basic concept of metasurfaces is to use arrays of antennas coupling from lower-order into higher-order waveguide modes
with subwavelength separation and spatially varying geometric par- (Fig. 1a); conversely, when an incident waveguide mode propagates
ameters (for example, antenna shape, size and orientation) to form a along keff , a higher-order waveguide mode is converted to a lower-
heterogeneous distribution of optical response (for example, phase, order mode. If the metasurface is made of plasmonic materials,
amplitude, polarization and optical impedance) that can be used to the optical power will eventually be coupled into a surface wave
control the propagation of light at will7–10. The focus of investi- (Fig. 1b). The wavevector of the surface wave increases continuously,
gations so far has been on the physics11–13 and applications14–17 of which results in enhanced confinement of the surface wave
using metasurfaces to control light propagating in free space. to the metasurface and progressively larger optical losses. Optical
Recently, metasurfaces have emerged as a way to control guided power will thus be dissipated via Joule heating in the
waves18–22 and to couple guided waves with waves propagating in plasmonic metasurface.
free space23–25. The gradient metasurface controls guided waves by strong, con-
Across an antenna resonance, the phase of the scattered light secutive scattering events at the antenna array (Fig. 1a). As a result,
wave from an optical nanoantenna relative to that of the incident the antennas have a collective action on the waveguide modes. Over
light wave sweeps a range of ∼π (refs 7, 9). A gradient metasurface a propagation distance of only a few times the wavelength, an effec-
consists of an array of dissimilar nanoantennas with a constant tive wavevector many times larger than the phase gradient dΦ/dx
phase difference dΦ and a subwavelength separation dx between can be imparted to the incident mode, resulting in a large overall
adjacent elements. The gradient metasurface introduces a wavevector change (as a comparison, gradient metasurfaces only
unidirectional phase gradient dΦ/dx, equivalent to a unidirectional transfer a single effective wavevector of dΦ/dx to optical waves pro-
effective wavevector keff , along the surface and has been used to pagating in free space). This collective effect of the gradient meta-
demonstrate generalized laws of reflection and refraction7–11. surface on guided waves enables us to substantially reduce the
Here, we show that the strong interaction between gradient meta- footprint of photonic integrated devices and simultaneously
surfaces and waveguide modes enables the demonstration of a achieve broadband device performance, because of an inverse
number of device functionalities, including mode conversion, polar- relation between device dimension and their working bandwidth26.
ization rotation, perfect absorption and highly asymmetric optical An additional advantage of using metasurfaces to control wave-
power flow in waveguides. Such metasurface-based devices have guide modes is that the optical near-fields of nanoantennas contain
substantially reduced footprints and broadband performance com- both transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) polar-
pared to conventional photonic integrated devices. In addition, ized components (that is, electric-field components that are

1
Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA. 2 Department of Physics, The University
of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Brownsville, Texas 78520, USA. 3 John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge,
Massachusetts 02138, USA. 4 Microphotonics Center and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA. 5 Center for Functional Nanomaterials, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, USA. †These
authors contributed equally to this work. *e-mail: [email protected]

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ARTICLES NATURE NANOTECHNOLOGY DOI: 10.1038/NNANO.2017.50

a
dΦ provided by the metasurface breaks the symmetry of optical
dx power transfer between two modes. For example, a phase gradient
dΦ/dx aligned with the light propagation direction will facilitate a
higher-order waveguide mode to couple into a lower-order mode,
TE00
TE01 TE02 but will inhibit the reverse process. Note that such directional wave-
TM01 TM02 guide mode coupling does not break time-reversal symmetry and is
different from optical isolation. An optical isolator has an asym-
metric scattering matrix that relates the incoming and outgoing
modes at the ports connected to the device and can only be realized
b Phase-gradient metasurface in systems with nonreciprocity33, such as systems with magnetic
materials34, nonlinearity35 or temporal refractive index modu-
Surface wave lations36. However, the performance of our devices is reciprocal.
TE00
z For example, if the TM10 mode is launched into the right port of
y
the device in Fig. 2a, it will be converted with high efficiency into
x the TE00 mode exiting from the left port.
The devices for demonstrating asymmetric optical power flow
Figure 1 | Unidirectional phase gradient dΦ/dx introduced by a in waveguides consist of a Y-branch waveguide and two gradient
metasurface causes asymmetric waveguide mode coupling. a, In the metasurface structures with opposite orientations (Fig. 3a,b). Each
forward propagation direction, an incident fundamental waveguide mode can gradient metasurface is positioned at the centre of the top surface
couple into either higher-order TE or TM modes, as a result of consecutive of one waveguide branch and consists of a phased array of gold
interactions with the gradient metasurface. b, In the backward direction, an nanorod antennas according to the design shown in Fig. 2a. In
incident fundamental waveguide mode couples into surface waves the experiment, an incident laser beam with tunable wavelengths
propagating along a plasmonic gradient metasurface, and optical power is between 2.40 and 2.50 μm and controllable polarization was
completely absorbed. TE modes are defined as waveguide modes that have coupled into the input port of the device using a single-mode
their electric field component preferentially in the y direction and TM mid-infrared fibre and predominantly excited the TE00 waveguide
modes have their electric field component preferentially in the z direction31,32. mode. An infrared camera was used to image the output ports of
The TE/TMmn mode has (m + 1) and (n + 1) lobes in the y and the two waveguide branches and the ratio of light transmission
z directions, respectively. through the two ports were monitored as a function of wave-
length. Without the gradient metasurfaces, the input light is
polarized along the y and z axis, respectively, in Fig. 1). Therefore, separated equally between the two branches and the two optical
nanoantennas are able to mediate a strong interaction between TE spots at the output ports have the same intensity. However, in
and TM waveguide eigenmodes, which otherwise cannot couple devices patterned with gradient metasurfaces, we observed a
with each other in a bare waveguide and couple weakly in large difference in light transmission through the two ports
nanostructured waveguides27–30. (Fig. 3c,d and Supplementary Section III). Figure 3c shows
images of the two optical spots at the output ports at different
Asymmetric optical power transmission in waveguides wavelengths ranging from 2.43 to 2.47 μm. In the right branch,
Figure 2 shows a device that supports highly asymmetric optical light is efficiently converted into surface waves by the gradient
power transmission around λ = 2.5 μm when the fundamental TE metasurface and optical transmission is small. In the left
waveguide mode is launched along opposite propagation directions. branch, the incident TE00 mode is converted to the TM10 mode,
The gradient metasurface consists of 56 gold nanorods with differ- which leads to large optical transmission. The ratio of
ent lengths located on the top surface of a Si3N4 waveguide (Fig. 2a). the transmission spectra reaches its peak value of ∼35 around
Figure 2b,c shows finite-difference time-domain simulations that λ = 2.45 μm (Fig. 3d).
depict mode evolutions in two opposite propagation directions. In
the forward direction, the incident TE00 mode is converted into Mode converters based on plasmonic metasurfaces
the TM10 mode (Fig. 2b). In the backward direction, it couples Figure 4a shows a few waveguide mode converters operating
into surface waves, and optical power is strongly absorbed around λ = 4 μm. The gradient metasurfaces consist of phased
(Fig. 2c), with limited reflection back into the input port or arrays of gold nanorod antennas patterned on the top surface of
optical scattering into free space and the substrate. The lower silicon waveguides. The incident TE fundamental waveguide
panel of Fig. 2d shows that optical power flow bends upwards and mode is converted into the TM00 , TM10 or TE10 mode, depending
terminates at the antenna layer on the top surface of the waveguide. on the design parameters, which include the phase gradient dΦ/
The transmission of optical power in the forward and backward dx, array length, offset of the antenna array from the waveguide
directions is 42.9 and 0.21%, respectively, at λ = 2.50 μm (Fig. 2e). centre and antenna orientation. The third column in Fig. 4a
The ratio of the transmission spectra of the two directions is main- shows finite-difference time-domain simulations of mode evol-
tained at a high level (>100) between λ = 2.44 μm and 2.64 μm, and ution when light propagates from the left to the right through a
reaches its peak value of ∼200 at λ = 2.50 μm (Fig. 2e). region of the waveguide patterned with the gradient metasurfaces.
We developed a coupled-mode theory to model the highly asym- The collective action of the antennas in a gradient metasurface
metric mode coupling in the device (Supplementary Section VIII). can be quantified by N, the number of effective wavevectors,
Figure 2f,g shows that our coupled-mode theory can accurately keff = dΦ/dx, imparted to the guided wave during the mode conver-
describe the mode evolution in both propagation directions. The sion process. The total additional wavevector needed for mode con-
most important feature of our theory that distinguishes it from version is the difference of the propagation constants of the input
conventional coupled-mode theory31,32 is that the coefficients that and output waveguide modes, Δβ = ko|nin – nout|, where ko = 2π/λo
govern the coupling strength between two modes are different is the free-space wavevector, nin is the modal index of the input
(for example, κ12 ≠ κ21 for the coupling between the TE00 and waveguide mode and nout is the modal index of the converted wave-
TM10 modes and κ13 ≠ κ31 for the coupling between the TE00 guide mode. N is therefore defined as N ≡ Δβ/|dΦ/dx|, and can be
mode and surface waves). The physical reason for the asymmetric thought of as the number of interactions between the guided wave
coupling coefficients is that the unidirectional phase gradient and the metasurface, where each interaction contributes dΦ/dx to

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NATURE NANOTECHNOLOGY DOI: 10.1038/NNANO.2017.50 ARTICLES
a Gold metasurface b
TE00 500 nm Ey
Forward Backward 1

Si3N4
z 0
y SiO2
x
Si neff = 1.75 2 µm
−1
c
Ez TM10 Ez
Surface wave 500 nm
neff = 2.71 neff = 2.08 4 0.6

Waveguide TE00
0 0.0

z y
2 µm
x x neff = 1.54
−4 −0.6
d e 1
Forward

Transmission
0.1
TE00 Waveguide P
1 0.01 Backward

0.001
Ratio of transmission
200
500 nm
150
0 100
Waveguide TE00
50

0
z
2 µm 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8 3.0 3.2 3.4
x
λ (µm)

f g
1.0 FDTD simulations: 1.0 FDTD simulations:
TE00 TE00
Surface wave Surface wave
0.8 TM10 0.8
Coupled-mode theory:
Coupled-mode theory: TE00
Amplitude

Amplitude

0.6 TE00 0.6 Surface wave

Surface wave
TM10
0.4 0.4

0.2 0.2

0.0 0.0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
x (µm) x (µm)

Figure 2 | Asymmetric optical power transmission in waveguides patterned with gradient metasurfaces. a, Schematic of a device working around
λ = 2.5 μm. The Si3N4 waveguide is 2.5 μm in width and 1.0 μm in thickness. The centre-to-centre distance between adjacent antennas is 300 nm. The
length of the antenna array is 16.5 μm. Detailed design parameters are provided in Supplementary Section V. b,c, Full-wave simulations showing conversion
of the incident TE fundamental mode into the TM10 mode in the forward propagation direction and into surface waves in the backward direction. Black
dashed lines indicate the location of the antenna array. Notice that the effective mode index neff evolves differently in two opposite propagation directions.
d, Spatial distribution of the magnitude of the Poynting vector, showing highly asymmetric optical power flow as a result of the directional mode conversion.
Black dashed lines indicate the location of the antenna array. e, Optical power transmission spectra of the device in opposite propagation directions and the
ratio of the spectra, showing that highly asymmetric optical power transmission is maintained over a broad wavelength range. f,g, Mode evolution as a
function of propagation distance in opposite propagation directions. The results of coupled-mode theory (curves) have good quantitative agreement with the
results of full-wave simulations (symbols).

the final propagation constant. For example, the modal index The power transmission of the mode converters is between 36
decreases from 2.717 to 1.609 in the TE00-to-TM10 mode convertor, and 71%, and optical losses are mainly due to absorption in the
where dΦ = 5.7° and dx = 500 nm, and so N is ∼8.4. This large gold nanoantennas. The purity of the converted modes can
number of effective interactions between the guided wave and approach unity, and high-purity mode conversion can be main-
the metasurface occur over a propagation distance of 12 μm (the tained over a broad wavelength range. For example, the purity of
length of the antenna array), which is only ∼2.9 times the free-space the converted TM10 mode is above 90% within a wide wavelength
wavelength λo = 4.16 μm. range of λ = 3.5–5.1 μm (Fig. 4b).

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a b
Forward antenna array Backward antenna array

Si3N4 waveguide 2 µm
Right branch

SiO2
Left branch

Si

λ = 2.43 µm
2 µm

d 40
2.44 µm
35 Experiments
Simulations
30

2.45 µm 25

Intensity ratio 20

15
2.46 µm
10

0
2.47 µm
2.40 2.42 2.44 2.46 2.48 2.50
Left branch Right branch λ (µm)

Figure 3 | Experimental demonstration of asymmetric optical power transmission in waveguides patterned with gradient metasurfaces. a, Schematic of
fabricated devices consisting of a Y-branch waveguide and two gradient metasurfaces patterned on the waveguide branches. Light couples into the device
from the left port as the TE00 mode, equally splits into the two branches, still as the TE00 mode, and interacts with the two gradient metasurfaces differently.
Insets: zoom-in views of the device. b, SEM images of two gradient metasurface structures patterned on the top surfaces of the two Si3N4 waveguide
branches of a device. The metasurface structures are arranged in two opposite orientations and each consists of 56 gold nanorod antennas with different
lengths. c, Infrared camera images of two output ports of a device at different wavelengths ranging from 2.43 μm to 2.47 μm, showing highly asymmetric
power transmission through the two waveguide branches. A polarizer was put in front of the camera to select the TM-polarized component. d, Measured
and simulated ratios of unpolarized peak light intensity at the two output ports. The fabricated devices have slightly under-etched waveguides, which leads to
a smaller wavelength range for observing asymmetric optical power flow.

Figure 5 shows the performance of a few waveguide mode con- (Fig. 5f) is non-ideal because of an imperfectly cleaved waveguide
verters fabricated according to the designs in Fig. 4a. We used a output facet.
grating coupler to couple the output of a λ = 4 µm quantum
cascade laser into the fundamental TE waveguide mode, which Mode converters based on dielectric metasurfaces
then interacts with gradient metasurfaces patterned on the wave- The concept of gradient metasurfaces can be implemented in any
guides and is converted into desired output waveguide modes. materials systems that support optical resonances. In particular,
The converted modes exit from the cleaved facet at the end of the gradient metasurfaces based on Mie resonators37–39 allow us to sub-
waveguides and radiate into the far-field. To characterize the stantially decrease the optical absorption associated with optical
converted modes, we measured their far-field profiles by raster- resonances and thereby reduce the insertion losses of waveguide
scanning a single-pixel indium antimonide detector in front of mode converters. Figure 6a shows a few such all-dielectric mode
the waveguide output facet. Figure 5b shows that the output from converters operating around the telecommunications wavelength
the TE00-to-TM00 mode converter (polarization rotator) has only of λ = 1.55 μm. The devices consist of silicon nanorods with
one far-field lobe with TM polarization, and that the TE-polarized different lengths located on the top surface of LiNbO3 waveguides.
far-field is comparatively weak, indicating that the incident TE00 We engineered the dipolar Mie resonances supported by the
mode has been converted into the TM00 mode with high efficiency. silicon nanorods so that the incremental phase between adjacent
The far-field profiles of the TE00-to-TM10 and TE00-to-TE10 mode elements is a constant (Supplementary Section IV).
converters have two lobes but are TM- and TE-polarized, respectively. Figure 6b–d presents scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
The residual TE-polarized component in the far-field is negligible for images of a fabricated telecom TE00-to-TM00 mode converter
the TE00-to-TM10 mode converter (Fig. 5d), which indicates complete according to the design shown in Fig. 6a. The TE fundamental wave-
mode conversion. The far-field of the TE00-to-TE10 mode converter guide mode with tunable wavelengths between 1,480 and 1,580 nm

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NATURE NANOTECHNOLOGY DOI: 10.1038/NNANO.2017.50 ARTICLES
a Input Output
Schematic Mode evolution

Ey
TE00
Gold metasurface
TE00 TM00

Si
z y
SiO2
y 300 nm x 500 nm
Si Ez
TM00
z y
x

y 2 µm z 500 nm
x y

Ey
TE00

TE00 TM10

z y
y 300 nm x 500 nm
Ez
TM10

y 2 µm z 500 nm
x y

TE00 TE10 Ey 500 nm

TE00 TE10

z y 2 µm z 500 nm
300 nm
y x y

b 100

TM10
90
TM00
Mode purity (%)

80
TE10

70

60

50
3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0
λ (µm)

Figure 4 | Mid-infrared waveguide mode converters and polarization rotator based on plasmonic gradient metasurfaces. a, Simulated device performance.
First column: device schematics. The gradient metasurfaces consist of gold phased array antennas (yellow rods) patterned on silicon waveguides and
operating around λ = 4 μm. The silicon waveguides in all devices are 2.1 μm in width and 0.75 μm in thickness. The thickness of the underlying SiO2 layer is
5 μm. The lengths of the TE00-to-TM00 , TE00-to-TM10 and TE00-to-TE10 mode converters are 7.5 μm, 12 μm and 7.5 μm, respectively. Detailed design
parameters of the devices are provided in Supplementary Section V. Second and fourth columns: waveguide modes at the input and output ports of the
devices, respectively, with electric field components of the modes indicated by arrows. The field distributions are plotted at λ = 4.50, 4.16 and 4.10 μm,
respectively, for the three devices from top to bottom in a. Third column: mode evolutions as light propagates from left to right. The peak transmission
efficiencies of the three devices from top to bottom in a are, respectively, 65, 36 and 71%. The total number of effective wavevectors keff = dΦ/dx imparted
to the guided wave by the gradient metasurfaces during the mode conversion process is 3.5, 8.4 and 2.7, respectively, for the three devices from top to
bottom in a (Supplementary Table 3). b, Purity of the converted modes as a function of wavelength, showing that the devices can operate over a broad
wavelength range.

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b 0.27
TM TE (V)
a

Gold metasurface 0.18

TE00 TM00

Si
0.09
SiO2

2 µm z 2 mm
2 mm
y
0.00
c d 0.2
TM TE (V)

TE00 TM10

0.1

2 µm z
1 mm 2 mm
y
0.0
e f 0.04
TE (V)
2 mm

TE00 TE10

0.02

2 µm z 2 mm
y
0.00

Figure 5 | Experimental demonstration of mid-infrared waveguide mode converters. a, SEM image of the TE00-to-TM00 mode converter (perspective view,
30° from normal to the waveguide top surface). b, Measured far-field emission patterns of the TE00-to-TM00 mode converter (polarization rotator), showing
that the TM-polarized component has a single lobe and that the TE-polarized component is very weak. c, SEM image of the TE00-to-TM10 mode converter.
d, Measured far-field emission patterns of the TE00-to-TM10 mode converter, showing two lobes with TM polarization and weak far-field with TE
polarization. e, SEM image of the TE00-to-TE10 mode converter. f, Measured far-field emission pattern of the TE00-to-TE10 mode converter. The asymmetric
far-field is due to defects on the cleaved waveguide output facet. The weak residual TE-polarized signal in the far-field of the TE00-to-TM00 and
TE00-to-TM10 mode converters indicates that the conversion from the TE-polarized incident mode to the TM-polarized output modes is highly efficient.
Notice that the offset of the antenna array from the waveguide central axis is chosen to be 200 nm in a and 400 nm in e, in accordance with the designs in
Fig. 4a, to achieve high-purity mode conversion.

was launched into the TE00-to-TM00 mode converters as well as into coupled into a bare waveguide and propagates along the entire
bare waveguides with the same length and cross-sectional dimensions length of the waveguide (2 mm), while maintaining high modal
as the mode converters. We observed no significant difference between purity (>99%), and the spectra in Fig. 6f indicate that when the
the mode converters and the bare waveguides in their transmitted dielectric gradient metasurface is patterned on the waveguide, the
optical power, implying that the dielectric metasurfaces introduce TE00 mode launched into the device is converted into a high-purity
negligible insertion losses. For example, the measured transmitted TM00 mode (with a purity of 96% averaged over λ = 1,480–1,580 nm).
optical signal from an InGaAs photodetector for the TE00-to-
TM00 mode converters averaged over six devices is 1.09 ± 0.14 V, Conclusions
while the measured transmitted optical signal of 10 bare waveguides The integration of metasurface structures into photonic integrated
is 1.07 ± 0.19 V. circuits provides a highly efficient platform for the control of
In addition, these waveguide mode converters have broadband guided waves over broadband and with low losses. In this hybrid
performance. Figure 6e,f presents measured spectra of the TE- platform, control of waveguide modes is realized by light scattering
and TM-polarized components of a bare waveguide and of a by phased arrays of nanoantennas, where the distance between
TE00-to-TM00 mode converter, respectively. The measured TE neighbouring antennas is a few times smaller than the wavelength.
and TM components must be contributed by the TE00 and TM00 Optical scattering at subwavelength intervals provides the most effi-
waveguide modes, respectively, because the LiNbO3 waveguides cient control of guided waves among all device configurations. As
are designed to only support the fundamental TE and TM modes. such, photonic integrated devices based on metasurfaces could
Thus, the spectra in Fig. 6e indicate that the TE00 mode is have a footprint much smaller than conventional devices based on

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NATURE NANOTECHNOLOGY DOI: 10.1038/NNANO.2017.50 ARTICLES
a Output
Schematic Input Mode evolution
TE00 Ey

TE00 TM00
z y
y x
150 nm 250 nm
Ez TM00

z y SiO2
x LiNbO3
y z SiO2
2 µm 500 nm
x y
TE00 TE10 TE00 Ey 500 nm TE10
Si metasurface
Air

LiNbO3 LiNbO3 SiO2

z y z
SiO2 200 nm 2 µm 1 µm
y x y
TE00 TE20 TE00 Ey 500 nm TE20

Air

LiNbO3 SiO2
z y 2 µm z 1 µm
y 200 nm x y

b c d

Si metasurface

LiNbO3 waveguide 5 µm 500 nm 500 nm

e f
1.2 Bare waveguide 1.2 TE00-to-TM00 converter

1.0 1.0
Detector signal (V)

Detector signal (V)

0.8 0.8

0.6 TE 0.6
TM
TM TE
0.4 0.4

0.2 0.2

0.0 0.0
1,480 1,500 1,520 1,540 1,560 1,580 1,480 1,500 1,520 1,540 1,560 1,580
λ (nm) λ (nm)

Figure 6 | Telecom waveguide mode converters based on dielectric gradient metasurfaces. a, Simulated device performance at λ = 1.55 μm. First column:
schematics of three waveguide mode converters. The gradient metasurface structures consist of phased arrays of silicon antennas (dark blue rods) patterned
on LiNbO3 waveguides. The silicon nanorods support dipolar Mie resonances and are designed to introduce a unidirectional phase gradient along the
waveguide. The lengths of the TE00-to-TM00 , TE00-to-TE10 and TE00-to-TE20 mode converters are, respectively, 20.3 μm, 5.4 μm and 8.4 μm. Detailed design
parameters of the devices are provided in Supplementary Section V. Second and fourth columns: waveguide modes at the input and output ports of the
devices, respectively. The polarization of the electric field component of the modes is indicated by arrows and the boundaries of the LiNbO3 waveguide are
indicated by dashed lines. Third column: mode evolutions as light propagates from left to right. The calculated transmission efficiencies of the three devices
from top to bottom averaged over λ = 1,480−1,580 nm are 94.4, 92.9 and 82.9%, respectively (Supplementary Section III). The total number of effective
wavevectors keff = dΦ/dx imparted to the guided wave by the gradient metasurfaces during the mode conversion process is 48.2, 2.6 and 4.3, respectively, for
the three devices from top to bottom in a (Supplementary Table 4). b, SEM image of a fabricated TE00-to-TM00 mode converter (before applying an overcoat
of SiO2). c,d, Zoom-in views of b. e, Measured TE- and TM-polarized components at the output port of a bare waveguide that has the same geometries
(length and cross-sectional dimensions) as the TE00-to-TM00 mode converters. f, Measured TE- and TM-polarized components at the output port of a
TE00-to-TM00 mode converter, showing that the device operates over a broad wavelength range and has similar power transmission to the bare waveguide.

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NATURE NANOTECHNOLOGY DOI: 10.1038/NNANO.2017.50 ARTICLES
48. Guan, H. et al. High-efficiency low-crosstalk 1310-nm polarization splitter and Author contributions
rotator. IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett. 26, 925–928 (2014). Z.L., M.-H.K. and N.Y. conceived and designed the experiments. Z.L., M.K. and C.W.
49. Driscoll, J. B. et al. Asymmetric Y junctions in silicon waveguides for on-chip fabricated the devices, with M.L. and A.S.’s assistance. M.K., Z.L., Z.H., C.W., S.S. and
mode-division multiplexing. Opt. Lett. 38, 1854–1856 (2013). A.C.O. performed the measurements and analysed the data, with A.M.A., M.L. and N.Y.’s
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from all co-authors. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.
Acknowledgements
The work was supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (grant no.
FA9550-14-1-0389, through a Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative
programme), a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Young Faculty Award (grant
Additional information
Supplementary information is available in the online version of the paper. Reprints and
no. D15AP00111) and the National Science Foundation (grant no. ECCS-1307948). The
permissions information is available online at www.nature.com/reprints. Publisher’s note:
authors acknowledge funding from the Ministry of Defense, Singapore, and from the
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and
Defense Threat Reduction Agency (grant no. HDTRA1-13-1-0001). A.C.O. acknowledges
institutional affiliations. Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to N.Y.
support from the NSF IGERT programme (grant no. DGE-1069240). Research was carried
out in part at the Center for Functional Nanomaterials, Brookhaven National Laboratory,
which is supported by the US Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences
(contract no. DE-SC0012704). The authors thank M. Lipson, R. Osgood Jr, P.-T. Lin and Competing financial interests
L. Zhang for discussions. The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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ARTICLES NATURE NANOTECHNOLOGY DOI: 10.1038/NNANO.2017.50

Methods were deposited onto SiO2/Si wafers using plasma-enhanced chemical vapour
Design of waveguide mode converters. We tailored the ‘array factor’ and ‘form deposition (PECVD). Electron-beam lithography was used to pattern gold antenna
factor’ of the gradient metasurface structure to realize efficient conversion between arrays and alignment marks on the Si3N4 or Si films. A second electron-beam
two waveguide modes. From the perspective of ray optics, the wavevector of each lithography step was used to create etch masks to define the waveguides. Chromium
waveguide mode has a characteristic bending angle (Fig. 1). Therefore, the role of the was used as the etch mask for the Si3N4 waveguides. Polymethyl methacrylate
gradient metasurface should be to bend the wavevector of the incident waveguide (PMMA) electron-beam resist was used as the etch masks for defining Si waveguides.
mode by the proper amount so that the resulting wavevector matches that of a Care was taken to ensure that the antenna arrays and the waveguide etch masks were
desired output waveguide mode. The incident waveguide mode interacts with the precisely aligned. Reactive ion etching was then used to etch waveguides. The etch
gradient metasurface many times, and each interaction bends the wavevector in masks were eventually removed.
accord with the magnitude and direction of the effective wavevector keff = dΦ/dx. The telecom waveguide mode converters (Fig. 6) were processed from lithium
Therefore, by controlling the ‘array factor’ via properly choosing dΦ/dx and the niobate on insulator (LNOI) wafers, which consist of lithium niobate thin films
length of the gradient metasurface, we can make sure that optical power is bonded onto silica substrates. Electron-beam lithography and reactive ion etching
preferentially coupled into the desired waveguide mode. were used to first pattern lithium niobate ridge waveguides. An amorphous silicon
The broadband performance of the mode converters is a result of the small (a-Si) layer was then deposited over the etched surface using PECVD. A second
device footprint. The optical analogue of the uncertainty principle prescribes that an electron-beam lithography and reactive ion etching step was used to pattern the a-Si
object’s spatial dimension is inversely proportional to its momentum spread in layer on the top surface of the lithium niobate waveguides into arrays of
k-space26. Our gradient metasurface structure has a length equivalent to only a few nanoantennas. The fabricated waveguides and Si nanoantennas were clad in a silica
wavelengths, so it is able to scatter an incident waveguide mode into any direction layer using PECVD. Finally, waveguide facets were diced and polished to ensure
within a finite angular range that is inversely proportional to the length of the reliable and repeatable coupling efficiencies.
metasurface structure. The efficiency of coupling into a certain output waveguide Detailed fabrication processes for the three types of device shown in Figs 3, 5 and 6
mode will be high as long as its wavevector is within that finite angular range, and are described in Supplementary Section I.
the wavevector of any other waveguide mode is outside it.
The lengths of the metasurface structures we chose range from two to about ten Device layout and characterization. The devices that support asymmetric optical
times the free-space wavelength. For example, the mid-infrared TE00-toTM00 and power transmission (Fig. 3) consist of a Y-branch waveguide and two gradient
TE00-to-TE10 mode converters shown in Fig. 5 both have a length of 7.5 μm, which metasurfaces with opposite orientations. Each waveguide branch was patterned with
is ∼1.8 times their central operating wavelength, λ = 4 μm, while the telecom TE00-to- one gradient metasurface. Linearly polarized light from a broadly tunable mid-
TM00 mode converter shown in Fig. 6b has a length of 20.3 μm, which is ∼13 times its infrared laser was butt-coupled into the input port of the devices. The guided optical
central operating wavelength, λ = 1.55 μm. The length of the metasurface structures power was equally split at the Y-junction and coupled into the TE fundamental
cannot be much shorter than one free-space wavelength because, if the metasurfaces are waveguide mode in each of the two branches. A mid-infrared camera was used to
too short, the uncertainty of the unidirectional wavevector they provide will be too image the optical spots at the two output ports of each Y-device. The camera images
large, which will prevent the realization of pure mode conversion. taken with a wire-grid polarizer were processed to quantify the difference in optical
In addition to the ‘array factor’, the selectivity of mode conversion can be power transmission through the two waveguide branches.
enhanced by engineering the scattering pattern of individual nanoantennas (the The mid-infrared waveguide mode converters (Fig. 5) consist of a grating
‘form factor’). Physically, the conversion between waveguide modes is mediated by coupler, a waveguide taper, a narrowed segment of waveguide, a 90° waveguide turn,
optical scattering by the antennas. Therefore, an essential condition for efficient a segment of waveguide patterned with a gradient metasurface structure, a second
coupling from one mode to another is that the antenna near-fields and the waveguide taper and a cleaved facet for light outcoupling. Emission from a quantum
waveguide modes have a large spatial overlap on the waveguide cross-section. In cascade laser was collimated and focused onto the grating coupler. The narrowed
other words, segment of waveguide was used to purify the TE fundamental waveguide mode. The
90° turn in the waveguide was used to separate the signal propagating along the


2


waveguide from the optical background guided by the silicon substrate. The incident

∫∫ Eantenna (y, z) · E∗wg (y, z)dydz

  TE00 mode interacts with the gradient metasurface structure and is converted into a


2 

2


desired output waveguide mode, which eventually radiates into the far-field from the
∫∫
Eantenna (y, z)
dydz · ∫∫
Ewg (y, z)
dydz
cleaved facet at the end of the device. The converted mode was characterized by
raster-scanning the far-field using a liquid-nitrogen-cooled single-pixel indium
should be large. Here Eantenna( y, z) represents near-fields around a single antimonide detector. A wire-grid polarizer was placed in front of the detector to
nanoantenna, Ewg( y, z) is the incident or output waveguide mode, and the characterize the polarization of the output mode.
integration is over the waveguide transverse cross-section (that is, the y–z plane). As The telecom waveguide mode converters (Fig. 6) were characterized using a butt-
the antenna near-fields contain both y- and z-polarized components, the gradient coupling set-up. Telecom light with tunable wavelengths was coupled into and
metasurfaces are able to facilitate coupling between TE- and TM-polarized collected from the polished facets of the lithium niobate waveguides using tapered
waveguide modes. By properly choosing the location and orientation of nanorod and lensed fibres. A three-paddle fibre polarization controller was used to ensure
antennas on the top surface of the waveguide, we are able to control the value of the that TE-polarized light was launched into the waveguides. The fibre-collected
above integral and thus fine-tune the coupling efficiency between two waveguide output light was converted into light propagating in free space and the TE and TM
modes (Supplementary Section VII). output polarization components were separated and detected using an
InGaAs photodetector.
Device fabrication. The devices were fabricated by a combination of chemical Detailed information on device layout and characterization is provided in
vapour deposition, electron-beam lithography and reactive ion etching. For the Supplementary Section II.
devices supporting asymmetric optical power transmission (Fig. 3), the Si3N4 films
were deposited onto SiO2/Si wafers using low-pressure chemical vapour deposition Data availability. All relevant data are available from the corresponding author
(LPCVD). For the mid-infrared waveguide mode converters (Fig. 5), the Si films upon reasonable request.

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